A Caged Bird
by deppfreako
Summary: Adele has always felt trapped by her snobby parents, and she plans her getaway... will what happens be worth the freedom?Rated M for future chapters.
1. An Attempt

A/N: Yeah, I'm redoing this story. I had the first chapter up, and I decided to start over... I'm kind of a perfectionist with my writing, I have to make it exactly how I want it. Someone said that my last story was kind of rushed, and that's what I thought too, but I couldn't fix it with that plot. So, I've came up with a better plot.

Please comment! It keeps me going!

Disclaimer: The only things I own are my original characters. Pirates of the Caribbean and it's characters belong to Disney and the actors that brought them to life.

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Chapter 1: An Attempt

Adele sat in her room at her vanity table, staring at the face looking back at her in the mirror. What she saw was what many people considered beautiful - thick yet delicate brown hair, green eyes that were brimming with emotion, and skin that had a mysterious pale tone. Adele was the only one who disagreed with those people who considered this 'pretty' or 'beautiful'.

She was a little chubby, not fat but barely in the skinny range. She had suffered a long depression, there was no denying that, you could see it in her eyes; the scars still lingered. But this girl had fought a hard and tiresome war with her depression, and after years she had finally won, and she was proud of that. She was especially proud of the fact that no one ever knew about it.

Adele had never had been fancied by any men, despite her family's money. She was rich, no doubt, but that didn't make her happy. She wanted to be loved, she longed for it in her heart, but none came from anyone other than her parents and close friends, of which she only had a few.

She and her parents came from France, when she was only four - fourteen years earlier. Her parents spoke enough English to get around, and Adele was fluent in both French and English, and she preferred to speak her mother tongue as much as she could.

Adele had a close bond with her mother, but not her father. Pierre Lambert, her father, was a bit harsh with his tongue and didn't think much for his family. He was an independent man.

Adele's mother, Helene, on the other hand, was calm and kind to everyone. The only thing Adele hated about them was the fact that they practically worshiped money and they were prejudiced against anyone who wasn't in high society - and refused to have connections with them. This was something Adele didn't understand, she accepted everyone, and felt as though you couldn't judge a person by their class or financial state.

She stared hard at the mirror before, as if she was trying to break it.

"I'm leaving... no changing my mind this time..." the girl mumbled to herself. She had had a feud with her parents the night before, something that happened quite often, and it was the last straw. She tried to run away once, but the plan backfired and she had come straight home. Needless to say, her parents didn't let her leave the house for a month.

Adele marched down the stairs and into the family room where her parents were. They both looked up as their only child walked towards them.

"Good morning, mother. Father."

"Good morning," they said in unison.

"I'm going to go shopping today, maybe pick out a new dress..." Adele told them, sounding completely truthful.

"Shopping?" Pierre repeated. He seemed like he was interested in this information, which worried Adele.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"After last night, do you think you deserve to just do whatever you please, young lady?" He asked angrily.

"I think I'm old enough to decide what I do."

"Maybe if you were a boy-"

"Maybe if I was a boy!" Adele laughed. "I can handle myself as well as any boy my age. I think it's awful unfair that you think-"

"ENOUGH!" The man yelled, jumping out of his seat and walking over to his daughter. He stuck his finger two inches from her face while she just stared. "You do not have the privilege to be a smart ass with me! I don't think you're going to be going anywhere today."

Adele gritted her teeth, holding back her fury. She turned sharply on her heel and went up to her room.

"It's not over, I'll get out..." she whispered, slamming the door behind her.


	2. A Fun Dinner

A/N: Phoenix Phlames: Sorry I was a bit unclear. The story is set in POTC times, and the rest you will find out in due time. ;-) I'm also going to change the story to first person, I think. ;

Chapter 2:

I slumped on the bed as angry thoughts ran through my head. I hated my father so much, and I needed to get away, but how? If I couldn't trick them into letting me go out shopping, there was no hope in running away...

"Adele, the commodore is here to join us for dinner," said my mother at the door after she knocked and came in.

Great, another person of high status to converse with. His stories would be dull and boring, no doubt.

I stood up from the bed and went over to my mother and we descended down the stairs. My thoughts trailed off into plans of my escape while my mother droned on about how to behave myself in front of Mr. Norrington.

When we entered the room, both men stood up and my father had the most convincing grin smeared across his face. I wanted to walk over and slap it off of him. The nerve of that man!

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Miss Lambert." Commodore Norrington told me, raising my hand to his lips and kissing it. I plastered a smile on my face. I had to act respectable or else I would hear all about it after the Commodore left.

"It's a pleasure to see you as well, Mr. Norrington." I replied, my thoughts still on running away.

We sat down to eat and soon the maids came with our dinner. It was an amazing display of food, salted green beans, fresh garlic mashed potatoes as well as baked potatoes, tender steak, and sweet yams. I wondered how long it must have took for the maids to make it all! I certainly couldn't have done it.

Finally, the commodore spoke.

"My my, this is an astounding meal! You are lucky to have such servants, Pierre." I looked at my father and he had an appreciative grin on his face, that was probably fake as well.

"Yes, I think they make quite a nice meal as well," he replied, pausing his attack on the green beans in front of him. Mr. Borrington then turned to me.

"So tell me Miss Adele, how have you been spending your days recently?" he asked, probably genuinely interested. I wish I could say the same.

"Well, I've been taking walks in the garden, reading, painting-"

"Oh Adele is a lovely painter! All her pieces are magnificent. You might take a look after dinner, James." interrupted father, causing me to almost choke on my food, which in turn caused me to receive a glare from him, which went unnoticed by the Commodore.

"Ah... yes, I think that would be nice," I managed to stutter. What was that evil man playing at?

We went silent once again and I played with the mashed potatoes on my plate; my appetite came to a halt.

"Actually, I'm not feeling very well this evening, maybe I can show you another time," I spoke with courage. If my father had been abusive, this would have qualified for a full beating. Luckily, he had barely ever laid a hand on me. Instead, the reaction was his fork dropping onto his plate. I gave him a stern glance.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry." I told the Commodore as I stood up and walked out of the kitchen. I quickened my pace and went into my room.

There would be hell to pay... fortunately I had a plan.

A/N: Jack is coming in either next chapter or the chapter after that, don't worry.


	3. A Chance

Chapter 3: A Chance

(A/N: Made this chapter a bit bigger, and in my opinion better written, hope it's to your liking, everyone!)

I started gathering up long dresses and tying them together. Typical run away plan, but at least my parents and maids were occupied at the moment.

My room was only on the second floor, but it was a little triumph in itself to get down to the ground outside. Once I had landed in the dirt, I wasn't sure where to go. I looked at the open window above me and decided it would be much safer to leave somewhere before I got caught. I didn't need a plan to just get away from the scene.

I hurried down to the main part of town as my corset felt like it was cracking my ribs. Not a very pleasant feeling. I slowed as I got closer to my destination, I didn't want to cause a ruckus or raise suspicion.

As I walked by the many stores I found that there was many a couple out and about today. Husband and wifes walking along the path smiling at each other and their hands together, and men taking strolls with ladies as they were courting them. My gaze turned to the ground, feeling a bit envious of the lovers.

When I was younger, I had made up imaginary boys who were perfect in every way, and would do anything to make me their wife. This childish mindset was given up when I grew older, even though these imaginary boys never became real.

It was true, my father had tried to marry me off several times, but the only thing the men were attracted to was my family fortune, and most of them were twice my age or older.

I kept walking with my eyes fixed at the ground in front of me, when suddenly I reached the edge of the town. The only thing in front of me now was an empty beach, with a visible forest up ahead. I decided to keep walking even though I had never ventured this far before.

Thoughts hurdled through my brain.

"Should I stop now? I don't know what danger waits for me beyond here... maybe I should turn back..."

I stopped walking and clenched my fists.

"Adele, you have to stop being a baby! You were too overprotected, and that's why you ran away. Turning back now would only contradict yourself!" my mumbles got louder with the last sentence, and I started walking again with newfound determination.

The forest came sooner than expected. It was much darker inside than it was on the beach. I trudged along, mad at my choice of clothes. Here and there, I had to pull my dress out of sharp brambles, and then there was the occasional loss of one of my shoes in the damp dirt.

"Damn dress," I muttered to myself as I pulled it off a particularly sharp bush. My hand scraped across the rough surface and the light revealed a deep cut as I pulled it closer to my face for visibility.

While I was inspecting my hand, I heard some male voices up ahead that weren't far off from where I was, and my whole body went rigid. What scared me most about the voices was that they were deeper and lacked the eloquence I was used to at home.

The voices spoke once again, and this time I was expecting them and in turn could make out the words.

"Gibbs, we almost ready to make sail?" asked a voice. It was the strangest voice I had heard, yet one of the most genuine. It was smooth, yet the man slurred some of his words.

Something that caught my attention was the fact that the man mentioned making sail... yet the docks were well behind me. Why would a ship dock in a remote location when there were docks?

"Aye, Cap'n. We be almost ready, jus' gotta get the rest of the rum loaded!" responded a man with an older voice.

"Perfect!" exclaimed the first voice, and then all was silent.

I made my way out of the forest, towards where the voices were coming from, and gasped. There was a large ship with black sails docked... right on the sand. Something told me this was my chance. I could stowaway on this ship, as scary looking as it was, and get away forever.

I heard something, or someone, coming from my left. I took this as my chance, and boarded the ship after I saw the deserted deck. I hid behind some barrels near the stairs up to the helm, and after making sure it was clear, I made my way down to a big room. My guess it was some crew member's quarters, but it would make a perfect hiding spot while no one was in it at the moment.

I could hear some movement on deck, and feel the ship move as if it was getting ready to make way. I was so lucky the crew only came back after I was hidden.

My body was fatigued, and I longed to sleep. I looked at the bed longingly, but realized I couldn't sleep on it in case someone came in. My eyes rested under the bed, and I figured that would be the best and safest place to rest my body as well, so I crawled under.

As soon as my head laid against the floor and my muscles relaxed, I was asleep.


	4. A Rude Awakening

A/N: Very very very very sorry for the long wait! I've been incredibly busy!

Chapter 4: A Rude Awakening

A deep voice awoke me from my slumber.

"Have a nice sleep, love?" My head rose a little too fast from the floor and hit the bottom of the bed. A man with a tan face and dark brown orbs as eyes was looking at me laying there, under the bed. _His _bed, no doubt. He also possessed one of the voices I had heard earlier while I was in the forest.

He chuckled when I made no reply, only sat and gaped at him. This was definitely not a good start for a runaway.

"Why don't you come out of there, and we'll figure out what to do with you?" suggested the man.

I looked at him for a moment, taking in all his features. He was a pirate, obviously, you could tell from the clothes he was wearing. They were a bit dirty, and looked worn.

He had a wonderful tan, and a dark line of kohl outlined his already deep chocolate eyes. A red bandana hugged his forehead, keeping the dreadlocks and beads entwined in them out of his eyes.

I slowly crawled out from under the bed as the pirate backed up, giving me room to do as he suggested. A smirk made it's way across his face.

"Now, what exactly were you doing under me bed? Waiting for me, perhaps?" A few wiggles of his eyebrows told me that last question was less innocent then it seemed.

"Actually, I wasn't waiting for you - for _any_ reason. I just wanted a ride, to somewhere else..."

"Somewhere else?" The pirate repeated to me.

"Yes, anywhere. It doesn't matter, as long as I don't go back to Port Royal."

"And what are we running from, love?" I looked up at him, silent. He gave me a questioning look, and butterflies took off in my stomach. I hadn't noticed how handsome he was, and the fact that he didn't automatically do something horrible to me was comforting.

"My parents," I replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which gave the man a chuckle, and caused more butterflies to flutter around my stomach.

"Well, it seems to me that you're pretty harmless... so I suppose I can let ye stay aboard without punishment. After all, you are fleeing the nest," At this, I let out a sigh of relief. My plan had worked out, and I wouldn't be getting killed by pirates today. Two points.

"Thank you!" I told him, very grateful indeed.

"Not at all," he responded, taking my arm in his hand. "Time to introduce you to the crew!"

In no time he had opened the door and was walking me out onto the deck. I was a bit nervous by the fact that I would be meeting more pirates, and I knew the probability of there being a whole ship full of gentlemen pirates was non-existent. I must have been extremely bad at hiding my emotions, or he extremely good at reading them, because of what he told me next.

"Don't be nervous, love. The ol' crew won't hurt ya." he assured me with another heart stopping grin. I nodded back, but I didn't quite trust him for some reason.

When we reached the deck, a few heads turned, but soon more looked in our direction. It was like a chain reaction, and finally everyone stopped and stared. A strange question ran through my head: "Had they seen a woman before?", but it disappeared. Of course they had. Why, then, did they stare at us like that? Before I could dig for answers in my own head, the man attached to my arm spoke up.

"Oi, this here be... what was yer name again, lass?"

"Adele" I whispered to him.

"Adele! This here be Adele, and she's a new part of the crew! And no one shall lay a hand on her, got it?" At this question, most of the hungry looks went away, and some scared ones replaced them.

"Now get back to work ye scurvy dogs!" he yelled, after which he turned to me and smiled.

"You know, you never told me your name either," I reminded him.

"Ah, yer right. Well, love, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, at your service," he told me, putting his hands together as if he was praying and bowing slightly. This man surely was strange, but he was so kind and handsome... I even asked myself how he could be a pirate!

"Now, let's figure out what work you'll be doin' on the ship,"

Uh, work?


	5. Author's Note!

Author's Note:

Apologies guys, but I really don't have the patience to continue this story. I think it's pretty crappy, and I'm running out of ideas. I have many more ideas though, and so I'll be writing many more stories. Hopefully they will be much better, and you'll like them much better. Thanks for your patience!

-Rachel


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